Love and Obey the Lord

11 Love(A) the Lord your God and keep his requirements, his decrees, his laws and his commands always.(B) Remember today that your children(C) were not the ones who saw and experienced the discipline of the Lord your God:(D) his majesty,(E) his mighty hand, his outstretched arm;(F) the signs he performed and the things he did in the heart of Egypt, both to Pharaoh king of Egypt and to his whole country;(G) what he did to the Egyptian army, to its horses and chariots,(H) how he overwhelmed them with the waters of the Red Sea[a](I) as they were pursuing you, and how the Lord brought lasting ruin on them. It was not your children who saw what he did for you in the wilderness until you arrived at this place, and what he did(J) to Dathan and Abiram, sons of Eliab the Reubenite, when the earth opened(K) its mouth right in the middle of all Israel and swallowed them up with their households, their tents and every living thing that belonged to them. But it was your own eyes that saw all these great things the Lord has done.(L)

Observe therefore all the commands(M) I am giving you today, so that you may have the strength to go in and take over the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess,(N) and so that you may live long(O) in the land the Lord swore(P) to your ancestors to give to them and their descendants, a land flowing with milk and honey.(Q) 10 The land you are entering to take over is not like the land of Egypt,(R) from which you have come, where you planted your seed and irrigated it by foot as in a vegetable garden. 11 But the land you are crossing the Jordan to take possession of is a land of mountains and valleys(S) that drinks rain from heaven.(T) 12 It is a land the Lord your God cares for; the eyes(U) of the Lord your God are continually on it from the beginning of the year to its end.

13 So if you faithfully obey(V) the commands I am giving you today—to love(W) the Lord your God and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul(X) 14 then I will send rain(Y) on your land in its season, both autumn and spring rains,(Z) so that you may gather in your grain, new wine and olive oil. 15 I will provide grass(AA) in the fields for your cattle, and you will eat and be satisfied.(AB)

16 Be careful, or you will be enticed to turn away and worship other gods and bow down to them.(AC) 17 Then the Lord’s anger(AD) will burn against you, and he will shut up(AE) the heavens so that it will not rain and the ground will yield no produce,(AF) and you will soon perish(AG) from the good land the Lord is giving you. 18 Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads.(AH) 19 Teach them to your children,(AI) talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.(AJ) 20 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates,(AK) 21 so that your days and the days of your children may be many(AL) in the land the Lord swore to give your ancestors, as many as the days that the heavens are above the earth.(AM)

22 If you carefully observe(AN) all these commands I am giving you to follow—to love(AO) the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him and to hold fast(AP) to him— 23 then the Lord will drive out(AQ) all these nations(AR) before you, and you will dispossess nations larger and stronger than you.(AS) 24 Every place where you set your foot will be yours:(AT) Your territory will extend from the desert to Lebanon, and from the Euphrates River(AU) to the Mediterranean Sea. 25 No one will be able to stand against you. The Lord your God, as he promised you, will put the terror(AV) and fear of you on the whole land, wherever you go.(AW)

26 See, I am setting before you today a blessing(AX) and a curse(AY) 27 the blessing(AZ) if you obey the commands of the Lord your God that I am giving you today; 28 the curse if you disobey(BA) the commands of the Lord your God and turn from the way that I command you today by following other gods,(BB) which you have not known. 29 When the Lord your God has brought you into the land you are entering to possess, you are to proclaim on Mount Gerizim(BC) the blessings, and on Mount Ebal(BD) the curses.(BE) 30 As you know, these mountains are across the Jordan, westward, toward the setting sun, near the great trees of Moreh,(BF) in the territory of those Canaanites living in the Arabah in the vicinity of Gilgal.(BG) 31 You are about to cross the Jordan to enter and take possession(BH) of the land the Lord your God is giving(BI) you. When you have taken it over and are living there, 32 be sure that you obey all the decrees and laws I am setting before you today.

Footnotes

  1. Deuteronomy 11:4 Or the Sea of Reeds

11 “And you shall love Yahweh your God, and you shall keep his obligations and his statutes and his regulations and his commandments always.[a] And you shall realize today[b] that it is not with your children who have not known and who have not seen the discipline of Yahweh your God—his greatness, his strong hand, and his outstretched arm, and his signs and his deeds that he did in the midst of Egypt to Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, and to all of his land, and what he did to the army of Egypt and to their horses and to their chariots, and how he made the water of the Red Sea[c] flow over them, when they pursued after them,[d] and so Yahweh has destroyed them, as is the case today,[e] and what he did to you in the desert until you came up to this place, and what he did to Dathan and to Abiram, the sons of Eliab, the son of Reuben, how the earth opened its mouth wide and swallowed them, their households and their tents, and all of the living creatures[f] that were in their possession and that were following along with them[g] in the midst of all of Israel. The fact of the matter is, your own eyes have seen[h] all of the great deeds[i] of Yahweh that he did.

“And you must keep all of the commandments[j] that I am commanding you today,[k] so that you may have strength and you may go and you may take possession of that land to which you are crossing[l] to take possession of it, so that you may live long[m] on the land that Yahweh swore to your ancestors,[n] to give it to them and to their offspring, a land flowing with milk and honey. 10 For the fact is that the land that you are about to go into[o] to take possession of it is not like the land of Egypt, from which you have come out of,[p] where you sow your seed and you give water by your foot, as in a vegetable garden.[q] 11 But the land that you are about to cross into to take possession of it is a land of hills and valleys, and by the rain of the heaven it drinks water, 12 a land that Yahweh your God is caring for it; continually the eyes of Yahweh your God are on it, from the beginning of the year up to the end of the year.

13 “And it will happen that if you listen carefully to my commandments that I am commanding you today,[r] to love Yahweh your God, and to serve him with all of your heart and with all of your soul,[s] 14 then ‘I will send the rain for your land in its season, early rain and later rain, and you will gather your grain and your wine and your olive oil. 15 And I will give vegetation in your field for your livestock, and you will eat your fill.’[t] 16 Take care[u] so that your heart is not easily deceived, and you turn away, and you serve other gods, and you bow down to them. 17 And then the anger of Yahweh will be kindled against you,[v] and he will shut up the heavens,[w] and there shall not be rain, and so the ground will not give its produce, and you will perish quickly from the good land that Yahweh is giving to you.

18 “And you shall put these, my words, on your heart and on your inner self,[x] and you shall bind them as a sign on your hand and let them be as an emblem between your eyes. 19 And you shall teach them to your children[y] by talking about them when you sit in your house and when you travel on the road and when you lie down and when you get up. 20 And you shall write them on the doorframes of your house and on your gates, 21 so that they may multiply your days and the days of your children on the land that Yahweh swore to your ancestors[z] to give it to them as long as heaven endures over the earth.[aa] 22 Yes, if you diligently keep all[ab] this commandment that I am commanding you to observe it, [ac] by loving Yahweh your God by walking in[ad] all his ways and by holding fast to him, 23 then Yahweh will drive out all of these nations before you,[ae] and you will dispossess nations larger and more numerous than you. 24 Every place on which the sole of your foot treads, it shall be yours; your boundary shall be from the desert and Lebanon from the river, the river Euphrates, on up to the western sea.[af] 25 No one can take a stand against you;[ag] your dread and your fear Yahweh your God will put on the surface[ah] of all the land where you tread,[ai] just as he promised[aj] to you.

26 “See, I am setting before you[ak] today[al] a blessing and a curse: 27 the blessing, if you listen to the commandments of Yahweh your God that I am commanding you today,[am] 28 and the curse, if you do not listen to the commandments of Yahweh your God, but rather you turn from the way that I am commanding you today[an] to go after other gods that you have not known.

29 “And it will happen that when Yahweh your God has brought you to the land that you are going to,[ao] to take possession of it, then[ap] you shall pronounce the blessing on Mount Gerizim and the curse on Mount Ebal. 30 (Are they not beyond the Jordan, toward the west,[aq] in the land of the Canaanites living in the Jordan Valley,[ar] opposite Gilgal beside the terebinth[as] of Moreh?) 31 For you are now about to cross the Jordan to go to take possession of the land that Yahweh, your God, is giving to you, and you will take possession of it and live in it, 32 and you must diligently observe[at] all the rules and the regulations that I am setting before you[au] today.”[av]

Footnotes

  1. Deuteronomy 11:1 Literally “all of the days”
  2. Deuteronomy 11:2 Literally “the day”
  3. Deuteronomy 11:4 Literally “sea of reed”
  4. Deuteronomy 11:4 Literally “in/at their pursuing after them”
  5. Deuteronomy 11:4 Literally “until the day the this”
  6. Deuteronomy 11:6 Hebrew “creature”
  7. Deuteronomy 11:6 Literally “in their feet” = “living things traveling along with them”
  8. Deuteronomy 11:7 Literally “your eyes that are seeing”
  9. Deuteronomy 11:7 Hebrew “deed”
  10. Deuteronomy 11:8 Hebrew “commandment”
  11. Deuteronomy 11:8 Literally “the day”
  12. Deuteronomy 11:8 Literally “you are crossing there”
  13. Deuteronomy 11:9 Literally “you may make long days”
  14. Deuteronomy 11:9 Or “fathers”
  15. Deuteronomy 11:10 Literally “you are about to go there”
  16. Deuteronomy 11:10 Literally “come out from there”
  17. Deuteronomy 11:10 Literally “as the garden of the vegetables”
  18. Deuteronomy 11:13 Literally “the day”
  19. Deuteronomy 11:13 Or “inner self”
  20. Deuteronomy 11:15 Literally “you will eat and you will be satisfied”
  21. Deuteronomy 11:16 Literally “Watch for yourself”
  22. Deuteronomy 11:17 Literally “the nose of Yahweh become hot against you”
  23. Deuteronomy 11:17 Or “sky”
  24. Deuteronomy 11:18 Or “soul”
  25. Deuteronomy 11:19 Or “sons”
  26. Deuteronomy 11:21 Or “fathers”
  27. Deuteronomy 11:21 Literally “like the days of heaven above the earth”
  28. Deuteronomy 11:22 Or “every one of”
  29. Deuteronomy 11:22 Literally “to do it”
  30. Deuteronomy 11:22 Literally “to walk in”
  31. Deuteronomy 11:23 Literally “to the face of you”
  32. Deuteronomy 11:24 That is, the Mediterranean Sea
  33. Deuteronomy 11:25 Literally “to your faces”
  34. Deuteronomy 11:25 Literally “faces”
  35. Deuteronomy 11:25 Literally “which you tread in it”
  36. Deuteronomy 11:25 Literally “spoke”
  37. Deuteronomy 11:26 Literally “to the face of you”
  38. Deuteronomy 11:26 Literally “the day”
  39. Deuteronomy 11:27 Literally “the day”
  40. Deuteronomy 11:28 Literally “the day”
  41. Deuteronomy 11:29 Literally “the land that you are going there”
  42. Deuteronomy 11:29 Hebrew “and”
  43. Deuteronomy 11:30 Literally “after the way of the descent of the sun”
  44. Deuteronomy 11:30 Hebrew “in the Arabah”
  45. Deuteronomy 11:30 Or “oaks”
  46. Deuteronomy 11:32 Literally “observe to do”
  47. Deuteronomy 11:32 Literally “before your face”
  48. Deuteronomy 11:32 Literally “the day”